Fees

21.1 – Fees (Rev. 1, 09-11-02) 1. Fees are to be charged differentially, depending on the category of requester/use of the requested material, as follows: • Commercial Use Request - If the request is for a commercial use, charge the requester for search and review, plus duplication. • Education and Scientific Institutions and News Media - If the requester is (1) an educational institution or a non-commercial scientific institution operated primarily for scholarly or scientific research, or (2) a representative of the news media, charge only for duplication. However, do not charge for the first 100 pages of duplication. • Other Requesters - If the request fits into neither of the above categories, charge for search and duplication. However, do not charge for the first 2 hours of search time and the first 100 pages of duplication. In addition, do not charge the requester if the charge to be billed is less than the established billing threshold. NOTE: The CMS Freedom of Information Officer can rule on requests for waiver or reduction of fees, other than those listed above. 2. Regardless of the actual cost of responding to the requester, the law only permits charges to be levied for certain services and only in accord with a published FOIA fee schedule. The DHHS schedule at 45 CFR Part 5 is binding on CMS, and results in the following charges: a. Photocopying - Charge 10 cents per page for copying records. The contractor may charge lower fees for particular documents where: • The document has already been printed in large numbers, • The contractor determines that using existing stock to answer this request, and any other anticipated FOI requests will not interfere with program requirements, and • The contractor determines that the lower fee is adequate to recover the prorated share of the original printing costs. b. Search and Review - For manual searching and for review (when used, as applicable, in connection with processing records for a commercial use or other request), base the cost on the hourly rate of employees involved. Equate employee hourly wage scales to these three categories: Level Hourly Wage Range GS Grade Range CMS Bills Level 1 Up to $20.74 Federal Grades 1 through 8 $16.00 Level 2 $20.75 - $46.69 Federal Grades 9 through 14 $33.00 Level 3 $46.70 or more/hr Federal Grades 15 and up $59.00 NOTE: The CMS Freedom of Information Officer updates the above scale based upon changes to the HHS fee schedule, and provides such updates to all CMS/contractor FOIA Coordinators. The contractor will not charge the requester any fee at all if the costs of routine collection and processing of the fee are likely to equal or exceed the amount of the fee. As of November 2001, CMS's charge threshold is $15.00. If the contractor determines that the requester is breaking down a single request into a series of requests in order to avoid (or reduce) the fees charged, it may aggregate all these requests for purposes of calculating the fees charged. Certifying that records are true copies - Charge $10 per certification. Performing any other special service requested, that the contractor agrees to provide - actual costs of operating any machinery, plus actual cost of any materials used, plus charges for the time of its employees, at the rates given in paragraph 2b of this section. Special Forwarding Arrangements - Actual cost. This includes special delivery, airmail, registered mail, etc.